


At The Edge Of Our Hope

by themonsterswin



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Inspiration From: The Last Of Us, M/M, Multi, Violence Against Zombies, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:03:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themonsterswin/pseuds/themonsterswin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one ever thought there would be a cure for the brain altering pandemic that turned most of the world's population in dangerous zombies, so when Raleigh Becket comes face to face with an old friend, who tells him there might just be a way to find a cure, he's a little sceptical. He's guilted into helping out by Stacker Pentecost, leader of the rebel movement that calls themselves the Fireflies, and sent on a long journey across the country along with Chuck Hansen, Pentecost's right-hand man, and the mysterious Mako Mori, in search for a Fireflies research facility, where apparently they have the equipment to put together a cure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_Ring, ring…_

She was half asleep, curled up in bed under the sheets when the phone started ringing, and it took another four rings before she was fully awake, pushing herself up with one arm, reaching for the phone beside her bed.

“Hello?”

“Jazmine, oh thank God,” came her brother’s voice, Yancy, though he and Raleigh always sounded so much alike it was sometimes hard to tell them apart. The panic in his voice made it easier to recognise him though, and Jazmine frowned.

“Listen sweetie, I need you to get Raleigh, wake him up and --”

Then the line went dead.

“Hello? Yance?,” Jazmine spoke into the phone, frowning as she realised she’d lost the connection, reaching over to put the phone back on its stand.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she yawned, stretching and rubbing at her eyes before she moved outside, into the hallway.

Shivering lightly, she rubbed her hands down her arms in an attempt to warm up, keeping her arms wrapped around herself as she moved across the hallway to Raleigh’s room.

“Rals?,” she called out, stepping closer to the room and there were noises coming from there, as well as a bright light shining out onto the hallway and when she pushed the door open with her foot she realised it was the TV that was still on.

“Raleigh?”

She looked around the room, briefly paying attention to the TV; it was showing some woman reporting about events out in the city and Jazmine vaguely noted that the woman wasn’t too far from where she and her brothers lived when there was an explosion, first outside and then on the TV as well and she jumped a little.

“Rals!”

There was a hint of panic to her voice as she turned around, moving out of her brother’s room and then down the stairs, into the living room and she noticed his phone vibrating on the kitchen counter, picking it up to see he had eight missed calls from Yancy.

“What’s going on?,” Jazmine mused to herself, one arm still wrapped around herself as she moved across the living room, by a large window and there were cop cars racing by, car alarms were going off and she could hear the neighbor’s dog going nuts as well. 

She was about to head down to the garage when the kitchen doors were pulled open and then forced shut, Raleigh having bounded inside, out of breath and he jumped a little when he spotted his little sister.

“Jazmine! Are you okay?,” her brother asked, turning to look at her for a moment, but when she told him that yeah, she was fine, he instantly turned to the desk beside him, rummaging through it.

“Has anyone come in here?”

Jazmine shook her head, a frown on her face. “No. Who would come in here?” A beat. “Rals, what’s going on?”

Raleigh seemed to hesitate and as Jazmine stepped closer she realised that he’d pulled a gun from the desk and that he was counting bullets, putting the ammo in the gun and she stepped closer, carefully.

“It’s .. I think something’s wrong with the Franklins. They’re sick.”

“How do you mean sick --”

Jazmine screamed when there was a bang against the glass door leading to the window, eyes going wide when she turned to look and it was their neighbor, Mr Franklin, running head first into the glass.

“Raleigh!”

He banged against the glass a few times, and then their neighbor fell right through, glass shattering and the man was breathing heavy and when he looked up, his eyes seemed unseeing, pupils dilated to the point where his eyes were nothing but pitch black.

“Jazmine!,” Raleigh called out, rushing across the room to get in front of her and he tried talking to their neighbor, tried to reason with him, but Mr Franklin did nothing but _growl_ and when the man hurled himself at them Raleigh pulled the trigger. 

Jazmine could do nothing but stare, first at the body on the floor and then at Raleigh as he pushed her away from it, leaning down to eye level so he could look her in the eye. He shook her slightly. 

“I just saw him this morning and he seemed fine and --”

“Jazmine, listen to me,” Raleigh cut her blabbering off, shaking her lightly again and he sighed. He needed her to stay calm.

“We need to get out of here. Something’s wrong. Do you understand?”

She nodded meekly, eyes still slightly wide and she stuck close to her older brother as he looked up, car lights lighting up the living room.

“Yancy,” Raleigh breathed and Jazmine couldn’t help but feel relieved, letting Raleigh tug her along to the front door. 

“Wait here,” Raleigh said after Yancy had walked up to the front door and let himself in, rushing up the stairs and he came back a few seconds later with a good set of shoes and a jacket for Jazmine, telling her to put them both on.

“-- say half the people in the city have lost their minds, some sorta parasite or something,” she heard Yancy tell Raleigh as they moved over to the car, Raleigh telling their brother about what has just happened with the neighbor and Jazmine was almost afraid to ask what Yancy had seen in the city, his eyes wide and scary looking. As if he’d just seen a ghost.

Yancy started the car’s engine, reversed out of their front lawn and pushed down the gas pedal and Jazmine simply sat back, listening to her brothers talk about what the hell it was that was going on. They discussed what road to talk, Yancy mentioned road block, the military and Jazmine sighed, wrapping her arms back around herself. 

“Can we listen to what’s on the radio?,” she asked after a brief silence, curious to see if there was news, but when Yancy tried the radio didn’t work. He grumbled about cellphones not working, now the radio and Jazmine just kept quiet, humming softly to herself.

Whatever it was that was going on, she was sure her brothers would keep her safe, she was sure that everything would be alright. They’d made it through so much already with just the three of them. Why would this be any different?

They reached the road her brothers had been discussing but hit a traffic jam right away and she couldn’t help but smile slightly as her brothers cursed and yelled; they usually held back around her and the fact that they didn’t should worry her, and it did. But it also amused her greatly.

“Turn back, turn back!,” Raleigh yelled as there were people yelling in front of them, some guy having gotten out of his car and then people came running from the left, attacking the guy and Yancy was pulling back, fast, Jazmine jostling around in the back seat.

They headed into town and Jazmine mentally mapped out the city and it was strange how familiar the place was, yet with everything that was going on it was also as if they’d just entered a whole new city on its own. 

They took a turn, then another, then hit a dead end with people running in front of the car and around it and Yancy only managed to manoeuvre through that street after an impressive amount of yelling on Raleigh’s part, who seemed more than a little upset with what was going on. Jaz could tell he was trying to reel it in, but it wasn’t quite working anymore.

“Take a left the --”

Raleigh never got to finish his sentence, because right in that moment another car collided with them and Jaz was tossed through the car, screaming as a sharp pain shot through her side and for a moment, her world went black.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Raleigh!?”

It was Jazmine’s panicked voice that woke him up, blinking his vision back into focus and Raleigh groaned as he shifted, the car having toppled over from the impact of the collision. 

He patted himself down, checked his head, his limbs, making sure everything was still in tact and aside from a few bruises and scratches he miraculously seemed to be fine.

“Y-yeah Jaz, I’m here, just .. hang on,” he mumbled, looking around. The driver’s seat was empty, which Raleigh wasn’t sure was a good sign or a bad, but right now he had more important things to worry about. Like getting himself and Jazmine out of the car, because he was pretty sure he could smell gas and that wasn’t very good. 

Looking around, his gaze rested on the broken windshield in front of him and he shifted, pushing himself up a little so he could bring his legs up, kicking down at the windshield then, repeatedly, until he managed to push it from its hinges, the glass shattering in front of him. 

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” he said to Jaz, crawling out of the car, pushing himself up and he moved to turn, reaching out for his little sister when there was a gurgling sound from behind, followed by yelling and growling and he spun around just in town to catch the man throwing himself at him.

“Jesus..”

“Raleigh!”

He struggled, trying to push the man off, but he was still dazed from the car crash, his mind spinning as his vision blurred and he grunted, trying to push the man off with more force, but it didn’t work. 

“Stay back Jaz!,” he called out, not wanting her anywhere near this man, creature, whatever it was. He had a feeling there wasn’t much of a man left within the body of this guy; the eyes wide and bloodshot and he was snapping at Raleigh with his teeth and --

 _Bang_.

Raleigh jumped at the sudden gunshot, squeezing his eyes shot at the blood that splattered against his face and when he opened his eyes again there was a large hole in the man’s head and he was slowly sinking to the ground, Raleigh stumbling back under the sudden weight of the man that was upon him.

“Are you alright?!,” came Yancy’s familiar voice as he rounded the car, gun still aimed at the man as Raleigh pushed him off, then reached up, wiping at his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. 

“Jesus Christ,” Raleigh breathed, heart racing in his chest and he turned then, reaching out for Jazmine, helping her out the car, frowning as she lost her balance, avoiding putting any weight on one of her legs.

“Are you --”

“My leg. I think it’s broken,” she said, wincing as she tried to put some weight on it after all, but instantly regretted it. She clung to Raleigh, looking from one brother to the other and Raleigh knew that - even though he’d never felt this scared in his life - he had to be brave. They both had to be, him and Yancy, because they had to make sure that Jaz was alright. 

In a way, it was nothing new. Looking after Jaz was all Raleigh had ever done. 

“We should move,” Yancy said, looking around at the panicking people running all around them, in all sorts of directions and Raleigh nodded, taking a deep breath in an attempt to collect himself. 

“I’ll carry you,” he said as he turned to Jaz and for a second it looked like she was ready to object, but when another person, man, creature, monsters, whatever they were, came running at them and Yancy had to shoot the man, she nodded quickly. 

“Okay.”

“Yance, lead the way. Let’s get to the highway.”

“Got it.”

Jazmine was small for her age, light and still somewhat easy to carry, though not nearly as easy as it had once been for Raleigh. It didn’t matter right now; all that mattered was that he could still carry her and even run with her in his arms, because he needed to be able to move fast right now. 

He followed Yancy blindly, looking around, shaking his head at the questions that Jazmine asked, not sure how he was even supposed to explain what was going on when he didn’t even know himself.

“I don’t know Jaz, all I know is that we have to get to safety,” he snapped after a while, out of breath, worn out and tired and he needed this to be over soon. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep up with this; Raleigh was in good shape and he could run for at least 10 miles if he had to, but having to carry Jaz was slowing him down. 

He jumped when a nearby car exploded, almost tripping over his feet and he barely managed to catch himself, Jazmine clutching at him tighter and Yancy had ran up ahead, barely managed to sidestep a part of the car that came flying his way. 

“This way!,” he called out, heading into an alley and Raleigh didn’t even take the time to ponder on whether or not running into a tight alley was a good idea or not; Yancy knew where he was going and that was what mattered. Yancy held a gate open for them and Raleigh pushed through, then almost tripped over his own feet as he turned back when one of the sick people came right at him. 

“Raleigh!”

He let Jazmine slide down a little, keeping hold of her with one arm as he used the other to hold off the woman, cursing under his breath, but then Yancy was here, pushing the woman off roughly and then shooting her in the head and Raleigh tried to shield Jazmine’s eyes, not wanting her to see any of this. 

“We’re almost there, just .. hold on a little longer sis,” Raleigh mumbled as Yancy lead the way into an abandoned pub, trying to shove the door closed behind them and Raleigh hadn’t even realised how many of these people were following them until he counted the arms sticking through the door opening, Yancy leaning against the door to try and keep them out.

“Raleigh, just. Keep going. I can outrun them. You’ve got Jaz, just get to the high way, I’ll meet up with you there!”

“Yancy, no, we can’t --”

“Just go!”

There was an urgency to Yancy’s voice that Raleigh couldn’t ignore, so he turned around reluctantly, made his way through the bar and out the front door, dodging a few people who came hurling at him and then there was a clearing, a field he knew lead to the highway and he was running almost blindly, hearing people behind him, chasing after him and he knew he just had to keep going. 

There were light ahead, and just as he was ready to turn around, the breathing from behind becoming louder and louder, there were gun shots and he heard bodies dropping behind him.

Breathless, he turned towards the lights, recognising a military uniform and he couldn’t deny the relief that washed over him as he stepped up close to the soldier, holding back then as he realised the man’s gun was still raised.

“We’re not sick! I swear, we’re not sick, we just .. please, you have to help us. I think she broke her leg! I --”

“Stay back!,” the soldier called out and Raleigh did as he was told, watching as the soldier seemed to communicate with someone else and Raleigh couldn’t say he liked the answers the soldier was giving to what he was apparently being told.

“Look, we’re civilians, we mean no harm. We’re not sick! You have to help us!,” he called out as he stepped back carefully, his voice desperate, but the soldier still didn’t lower his gun.

“I’m sorry,” the uniform said and Raleigh cursed out loud, turning away from the man just as he pulled the trigger, a salvo of bullets firing from the gun and Raleigh fell to the ground, barely registering the pain in his back and shoulder as he rolled onto his back, Jazmine having falling from his arms and onto the ground.

The soldier stepped up close, the bright light of the man’s flashlights shining in Raleigh’s face and he brought up an arm to shield his eyes, still breathing heavily. “Please,” he begged, then shut his eyes as the man made to fire his gun again, but instead of the salvo from the automatic rifle there was a single gunshot.

“Jaz!”

Raleigh opened his eyes to find Yancy standing over the body of the soldier, his eyes wide as he looked over to a spot a few feet from Raleigh, and Raleigh jumped as if he’d just been shot at again, spinning around, still oblivious to the pain from the shotwounds as he crawled over to where Jazmine was lying on the ground.

“Raleigh,” the girl mumbled, her hand pressed to a wound in her stomach and Raleigh crouched by her side, glancing up briefly as Yancy slid down next to Jaz, on her other side and Raleigh pressed his hand to her wound, cursing under his breath.

“You’ll be okay baby girl, you’re gonna be fine, we’re gonna get you outta here,” Yancy rambled, bringing a shaking hand up to Jazmine’s forehead, brushing her hair away from her eyes and the oldest of the Beckets refused to meet his younger brother’s eyes.

It was bad. It was really bad. Jazmine was fading right in front of their eyes and Raleigh realised in that moment that there was nothing they could do.

“It’ll be okay, shh,” he said instead of admitting that, his voice breaking as Jazmine used her free hand to grasp Raleigh’s shirt and he moved his own free hand, grabbing hold of hers, squeezing lightly and he even managed a light smile, his vision blurring due to the tears that were welling up in his eyes. 

“It’s okay,” Jazmine whispered, coughing then and there was blood in her mouth, coming out of her mouth when she pressed her lips back together and Raleigh shook his head a little, choking down a sob. 

“That’s right. It’s okay. It’ll all be okay.”

Then her eyes fell shut and she let out her last breath.


	2. Introductions

If someone has asked Tendo Choi ten years ago how he thought he was going to die, he would’ve laughed and said that he hoped he’d one day die of old age, curled up in bed with his lovely wife Allison after having said goodbye to their four children and dozen grandchildren.

Today though, was not ten years ago.

Today, Tendo knew exactly what he was going to die off, and it wouldn’t be old age. 

He tugged at his sleeve, having pulled it up seconds before to look at the nasty bite mark, and he could see it getting worse right in front of his eyes, knew that it was only a matter of time before he’d lose himself, before he’d turn into one of those _things_.

Right now, all that meant was that he had to hurry up. 

Pulling his sleeve back down, he took a deep breath, glancing up at the building he was standing in front. He’d had to sneak past a number of guards - it was past curfew in the quarantine zone - but Tendo knew his way around. He’d snuck past countless times before, never running into any kind of trouble. Today was no different.

The trouble he’d ran into earlier was outside of the quarantine zone. 

Raising his hand, he knocked on the door, crossing his fingers behind his back, hoping he’d remembered the little code they used right. Holding his breath, he tried to hear what was happening on the other side of the door, and when the door was pulled open and he wasn’t met with a gun to his face, he released the breath, sighing in relief. 

“I’m here for Raleigh Becket,” he told the burly looking man, the large furcoat and bright blond hair a little intimidating, but Tendo pretended not to be impressed.

“Sasha, who is it?,” came a female voice, heavily accented with what Tendo placed as a Russian tongue and he merely raised an eyebrow, keeping quiet as the large man turned back and spoke to the woman in Russian. His own Russian was a little rusty; he hadn’t had to use it in ten years, but from what he could gather the woman wanted to know who he was and the man … well. The man didn’t know yet.

“Who are you?,” came the logical next question from the man, his brows furrowed as he towered over Tendo, looking down at him with his arms crossed in front of his chest. 

If he hadn’t been dying already, Tendo might’ve been afraid. 

“My name’s Tendo Choi. I’m .. an old friend of Becket’s.”

There was a slight hesitation when he spoke, because old friend, well, he wasn’t sure if that covered it. Tendo had worked together with Raleigh’s brother Yancy, but that was a long time ago. It had been over ten years now. Ten years since everything changed and the world had gone to shit. 

It was strange to think so much time had passed already.

The Russians had another exchange of words and then the man stepped aside, eyeing Tendo warily though and when the woman came in view her gaze wasn’t a whole lot friendlier.

“I’m Sasha. This is my husband, Aleksis. We are friends of Raleigh. He is upstairs,” she told Tendo, crossing one leg over the other as she shifted in the chair she’d claimed as her own; the biggest and most comfortable one in the room.

“You hurt him, we kill you, understand?,” Sasha then added, a fake smile on her face that was menacing enough to send shivers down Tendo’s spine and he merely nodded.

“I just need to talk to him. No one’s gonna get hurt.”

 _Except me_ , Tendo couldn’t help but think. _I’m going to die_.

He dismissed that thought with a shake of his head, then moved towards the stairs, but Aleksis stopped him, held out his hand. 

There was a beat, then it clicked in Tendo’s mind and he sighed, handing over his gun. 

“I’m gonna need that for the road back.”

“You get it back after you talk to Becket.”

Tendo nodded, then headed up the stairs, one step at a time when he would’ve previously ran up with two steps at once; the infection was already beginning to spread. It was making him tired. 

He needed to hold on a little longer though.

When he arrived upstairs, there were three doors to choose from, but only one was unlocked, so Tendo took his chances, pushing the door open.

The second he stepped inside there was a gun to the back of his head; he could feel the cool metal of the barrel pressed against his skull and he raised up his hands.

“It’s me Becket boy.”

He could hear footsteps, then the pressure of the gun left his skull and Raleigh Becket stepped out in front of him, jaw set and eyes cold as he looked over his old friend, only lowering the gun after he was sure it was Tendo.

Then he heaved a sigh, holstering his gun and stepping aside to let Tendo further into the room.

“Sorry. Can’t be too careful these days,” Raleigh offered and Tendo had to bike back any comments about how if Raleigh just lived by the rules the military had set up, he wouldn’t have to be half this careful, but then Tendo didn’t quite obey those rules himself. 

“It’s alright, I understand.”

“Take a seat.”

Gesturing to one of the chairs, Raleigh then moved to the one opposite it, slumping down in it and Tendo couldn’t help but notice how tired the man looked.

He couldn’t be older than twenty eight; last time Tendo saw him he was eighteen years old, distraught and angry because of just having lost his little sister. Tendo had lost his wife, Allison, that same day. He’d understood the loss, yet at the same time he hadn’t dared compare their grief. It was different for everyone. 

Raleigh looked like he’d been through hell and back. His face was set, his eyes cold with dark rings under his eyes and there were scars there, as well as on his arms, from fights that Tendo probably didn’t even want to hear about. He knew Raleigh was a black market smuggler; getting paid by all sorts of different parties to obtain everything from guns to medicine and he’d never really thought that was something that eighteen year old boy was capable of.

A lot had changed though.

“How’ve you been?,” Tendo asked after a brief silence, having moved to sit himself down and he had to resist the urge to scratch at his arm. The bite was starting to get infected and it itched like hell, but he couldn’t let that on. Not just yet. 

“Why are you here, Choi?”

He sighed at the harsh time to Raleigh’s words, running a hand through his hair before he sat up straighter, leaning closer towards the other man.

“I have a favour to ask.”

Raleigh frowned at that. People asked him for things all the time, but favours weren’t really on that list very often. People asked him for guns, for medicine, to do impossible things, but as long as the pay was well, he generally did it. He needed money to survive. Even to this day, with the world the way it was now, money still mattered. 

“What kind of favour?”

“You remember Stacker Pentecost.”

Raleigh cursed at the mere mention of the name.

“The leader of the Fireflies?,” he asked, an incredulous tone to his voice as he raised an eyebrow at Tendo. Tendo was well aware that Raleigh knew a lot about what was going on in this city; which meant that Raleigh also knew who Stacker was, what Stacker did and also that Tendo worked for the man.

“You’re here to ask for a favour on behalf of your leader?”

“You don’t owe him any favours. But your brother always told us that if we ever needed to get something done, we could ask you,” Tendo explained and Raleigh cursed again, then chuckled, though there was no humour to it. 

Yancy Becket had joined the Fireflies about two years after the infection started turning people into zombies; he’d stayed on up until last year and then he left, no longer believing in what the Fireflies stood for. Or maybe he did believe and he had other reasons to leave; Tendo wasn’t sure. They’d been friends, but those weren’t the kind of things they talked about. 

“So you’re saying that I need to help you, because my _brother_ , who, mind you, I haven’t seen in over a year, told you I would.”

Tendo nodded, not sure what else to say. 

Raleigh sighed and the fact that he wasn’t laughing anymore, that he hadn’t told Tendo to get out just yet, it gave Tendo hope. Maybe the man sitting in front of him would help after all. He hoped so.

Rumor had it, no one was better at sneaking in and out of the city than Raleigh Becket was and that was exactly the skills Pentecost needed. 

“Why me? Why now?,” Raleigh asked, and Tendo sighed, glancing around the room as if expecting someone else to be there, and then he reached for his sleeve, pulling it up to reveal the bitemark.

Raleigh jerked back instantly, reaching for his gun. 

“You’re infected.”

“I don’t have a lot of time left, Becket. Which only partly explains the now…,” Tendo trailed off, pointedly pulling his sleeve back and Raleigh seemed to relax a little at that. 

“There’s a girl. Her name is Mako. She got bitten. That was a month ago.”

“You’re saying … what, she hasn’t turned into one of those things yet?,” Raleigh asked, sitting up straighter, his gun put away again. 

“She got bit, we monitored her, ready to put her out of her misery, but then the bite wound just .. started to heal, I guess. It’s a bit of a scar by now. But she hasn’t turned.”

A beat.

“She’s immune.”

“That’s impossible.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can come see for yourself Becket.”

Raleigh sighed, eyeing Tendo warily and the older man couldn’t blame him. There had been rumors of people who were immune before, even within the Fireflies camps, but they’d never been true. Sometimes people simply seemed to have a delayed reaction, but this? He’d seen it with his own eyes. She wasn’t infected.

“You didn’t answer my other question.”

“Why you?”

“Yes.”

“Because apparently, you’re the best at sneaking in and out of this city. And we need her out of this city and on her way somewhere else.”

“Where to?”

“A research facility. Stacker believes we can use Miss Mori’s blood to find a cure.”

Raleigh scoffed at that, shaking his head.

“There is no cure.”

“Not yet no. But think about it. If she’s immune, there’s gotta be something in her system that stops her from getting infected.”

“And Stacker has people who can figure that out?”

“He thinks he does.”

Raleigh sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

“What’s in it for me, Choi?”

Shaking his head a little, Tendo leant back in his chair. “What do you want there to be in it for you? You know Pentecost pulls quite some strings Becket. Whatever you need … he can help you get it.”

Becket nodded at that, then heaved another heavy sigh. 

“Okay. I’ll sneak her out of the city. But that’s it, Choi. I’m not gonna be this girl’s escort. I’m heading back as soon as we’ve left the city behind us.”

“That’s all we need Raleigh. That’s all we need you to do.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You can’t seriously be thinking of sending her out there on her own with a _black market smuggler_ , Marshall. How can we even know if we can trust this guy?”

Chuck Hansen didn’t like this plan at all. He realised that something had to be done, that they had to somehow take advantage of the fact that Mako seemed immune to the biters, but he also felt like this plan had been thrown together in a matter of minutes, and it just _wasn’t gonna work_.

“What would you have me do? Send a team with her? The more people that try and sneak out, the bigger the chance of getting caught is. We need this to be a small operation.”

“He’ll only take her out of the city! She’ll still have to travel halfway across the country to get to the research facility after that, you’re gonna let her do that on her own?”

Stacker sighed at that, a tired look on his face and Chuck realised that if that had been the call the older man had made, it wouldn’t have been an easy one. Stacker Pentecost had taken Mako in after the girl’s parents had died, ten years ago now and he’d grown to love her as his own daughter.

Chuck couldn’t imagine him wanting to send her out on her own.

“She won’t be on her own.”

“Then who will be with her? Because that Becket guy, he’s said he won’t go further than just outside of the city and --”

“You will be going with her.”

A beat.

“Me?”

“Yes, you, mister Hansen. You will accompany her and mister Becket on the way out and after that, you will travel with Mako to get to the research facility.”

“Why are you only telling me this now?,” Chuck asked, a frown on his face as he stepped up close to Stacker, wanting the other man to look at him. 

“Because I’ve only just decided.”

Chuck nodded, not entirely sure how he felt about this all. He’d been part of the Fireflies ever since his father first joined Stacker ten years ago. Stacker Pentecost and Herc Hansen went back, as the saying went. They’d fought in wars together and had always remained close and when the world went to shit, they’d sought each other out.

Herc’s wife - Chuck’s mother - Angela, had still been alive at the time. She’d died about five years ago, and Herc had left the Fireflies right after. Chuck, who had been seventeen at the time, had decided to stay, wanting to fight the military. 

“Why me?”

“You’re the right man for the job. And Mako trusts you. _I_ trust you. I don’t want her out there on her own with someone she barely knows.”

“Fine.”

Chuck was certain Stacker had already assumed he’d say yes; whether that was because the man wouldn’t take no for an answer or because he knew Chuck wouldn’t let Mako go out there on her own; Chuck wasn’t sure. He supposed it didn’t matter.

There was a knock on the door.

“Becket’s here, Marshall.”

“Send him in.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mako Mori had not asked for this.

When she got bit, she thought for sure that she was going to die. And that was okay, because she’d been out with her friend and she’d pushed that friend out of the way, got them to safety. If there was ever any honor to a death, it was by dying because you were trying to save someone else and Mako understood that.

It wasn’t that she’d been wanting to die. Of course not. She was twenty-one years old and though this world was far from perfect, she hadn’t given up on it yet. No, instead she was fighting, no matter how much she knew the Marshall didn’t like it. She’d never been considered an official part of the Fireflies because he simply wouldn’t let her be, but that never stopped her from tagging along on missions and proving her worth.

Then, she got bitten and she’d been sure that was the end of it.

Glancing down at the marks on her arm, she brushed her fingertips across the scar tissue, vaguely wondering if it was ever going to heal properly. She hadn’t taken the time to clean the wound after she’d gotten injured, she hadn’t taken the time to do much of anything except get as far away from the people she loved as possible. 

If she was going to take her own life - which she’d fully intended on doing - she was going to make sure that no one would ever find her. 

In a way, she owed her life to the military.

They’d caught her sneaking around, went after her and she’d been forced to run. By the time she’d lost them, the time that it usually took for someone to transform into one of those _things_ had long passed.

She supposed it was curiosity that stopped her from taking her own life in the end, curiosity and confusion about the fact that she seemed immune, at least, for now. She’d kept the bite marks hidden, her own little secret; keeping a close eye on her own temperature and health, reading into every little cough and sneeze, but after a few weeks … well. It became hard to deny that for some reason, she wasn’t being affected by whatever kind of virus it was that turned people into zombies. 

The Marshall was quick to form a plan after she’d come forward with it, though she’d had to overcome everyone’s initial disbelief at first - it wasn’t until she threatened to throw herself in front of another zombie to get bitten in some attempt to prove herself that people seemed to start believing her.

And now she leaving. Leaving the place she’d grown to see as her home, no matter how run down and dirty the place really was. The people she cared about were all here; Stacker, the other Fireflies, hell, even Chuck - even if he was a pain in her ass most of the time.

“-- want proof that she’s immune cos there’s no way I’m going on some sort of suicide run with two goddamned _kids_ without knowing there’s something here that’s actually worth dying for.”

Mako had made her way up to the Marshall’s room, stepping up to the door, her hand raised so she could knock on the wood, but before she could the voice had reached her ears and she scowled. She refrained from knocking, instead simply pushing the door open and letting herself in, stepping right up to the man she assumed had spoken.

“I’m not a goddamned kid, thank you very much,” she argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest and glaring up at the stranger, who seemed a little taken aback.

“Neither am I. And we wouldn’t be going on this suicide run _ourselves_ if we didn’t believe this was an actual shot at finding a cure, _Becket_ ,” Chuck’s voice came from behind her and Mako nodded firmly, agreeing.

“I still want proof.”

Pentecost stepped forward then, putting a hand on Mako’s shoulder and she visibly relaxed a little, taking a deep breath before pulling up the sleeve of her shirt. 

“Got bitten almost a month ago now,” she commented, watching as Becket stepped closer, reaching out but then he seemed to change his mind, dropping his arm back by his side. 

“How is this even possible?”

He seemed to be thinking out loud moreso than he was addressing anyone in the room, but Stacker answered him anyway.

“We don’t know. That’s why we need the research team to take a look at her; to give us answers. If Mako really is immune, which, it looks like she is; then she might be our only shot at finding a cure for this madness.”

Becket nodded, though there was still a frown on his face. He sighed then.

“Well. I guess I have no choice but to take you out of the city now.” He paused, glancing over at Chuck. “And he’s coming too?”

“Damn right I am.”

A beat.

“ _Wonderful_.”

**Author's Note:**

> This work is sort of based on The Last Of Us (fans of the game will definitely notice this in the prologue). For some parts I stuck really close to the game, for other parts I used a little more ~creative freedom.


End file.
